One of the longest-simmering rumors of the summer has been Marlon Byrd to the Mariners. Not hottest-simmering, mind you. It’s just Marlon Byrd. But ever since people started getting excited about the Mariners contending and getting excited about the Phillies stinking again, people have assumed that a Byrd-to-Seattle deal was gonna go down.

There aren’t many exciting bats on the market. And that’s true even if you stretch your definition of “exciting” to include Byrd. Maybe Alex Rios. Maybe Josh Willingham. But as of now, it looks like the Marlins don’t have a lot going on to upgrade the offense.